1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to apparatuses and methods for selectably providing either monoscopic or stereoscopic video display in a system which may include a variety of video display devices.
2. Description of Related Art
Depth perception is well known to be primarily a result of the left and right eyes seeing objects from different view points. The brain combines a left eye view and a right eye view, through an instinctive use of triangulation, to perceive three dimensions. Most common video displays, such as televisions, are unable to provide images that appear three dimensional because the displays provide only a single view and triangulation which penetrates the view is not possible. Stereoscopic video displays attempt to provide a different view to each eye. If the two different views are sufficiently close to left and right eye views of an actual object, the brain combines the two views and perceives a three dimensional image.
One stereoscopic display method uses a single display and special spectacles which change an image on the display differently for each eye. Common examples include spectacles with different color filters, different polarization filters, or shutters which alternately blank left and right eyes. Generally, the associated single screen images are blurry when viewed without the special spectacles.
Other stereoscopic display methods employ separate left and right displays, for viewing by left and right eyes of a viewer. Such methods typically require special video signals and special image processing circuits, and cannot be used with monoscopic displays.
Most existing systems and video games are monoscopic only and not designed to operate with stereoscopic displays. This lack of stereoscopic images limits the attractiveness of such prior art games, especially for "virtual reality" applications.